The Art of War
by b0b r0ss
Summary: The tides are changing. Plegians are constantly causing disruptions on the Ylissian border. Now a small group has found an ashen haired man in a thick cloak resting under a tree. Perhaps he is the change Ylisse needs.


"Chrom, we have to do something…" a faint voice exclaimed. "What do you propose we do?" questioned a seemingly closer character. "I… I dunno…" The cloaked figure's eyes sluggishly jarred open to see three people that would change his life forever.

"I see you're awake now." Observed the tall, young man. "Hey there!" chirped the even younger eccentric girl. "There're better places to take a nap than on the ground, you know." Said the man while reaching out his hand for support.

The stranger accepted the hand and pulled himself up, feeling slightly disorientated. He felt almost sick to his stomach and oddly enough couldn't recall a thing. He looks more closely and notices a mark brazened on his savior's right shoulder and hand.

"You all right?" pried the armor clad swordsman. "Y-Yes… Thank you, Chrom." "Ah, then you know who I am? The mysterious man shook his head. "No, actually. I… It's strange… Your name, it just… came to me…" Chrom furrowed his brow "...Hmm, how curious. Tell me, what's your name? What brings you here?" The man combed through his hair with his hand trying to make sense of what is going on. "My name is… It's… well… quite frankly I have no clue to who I am or where I am currently, I can't even recall what I ate for breakfast!" The smaller girl came to a realization. "Hey, I've heard of this! It's called amnesia!" This sudden outburst gave incentive for the knight to roll his eyes. "It's called a load of Pegasus dung Lissa. We're to believe you remember milord's name, but not your own?" The amnesiac stepped back noticing the hostility in the man's voice "B-But it's the truth!" He pleaded. Chrom looked back at the man with a stern face. "...What if it IS true, Frederick? We can't just leave him here, alone and confused. What sort of Shepherds would we be then?" Chrom gave his attention back to the amnesiac. "Right then – we'll take him back town and sort this out there."

The time is now and the place is on a stone road, leading to the small settlement of Southtown. A place where a tactician will make his mark.

While on the road to who knows where, our cloaked hero felt a sense of boredom and dread. The silence was thick and uncut, apart from the occasional whistling from Lissa and the dreadful glare of Fredrick, which spoke a million words alone. He needed information, he was becoming restless. "W-What will you do with me? Am I to be your prisoner?" This earned a chuckle from Chrom. "Hah! You'll be free to go once we establish that you're no enemy of Ylisse." A tilted head and question was followed, "Is that where we are, Ylisse?" Fredrick's face morphed into a sly grin. "You've never heard of the halidom? Ha! Someone pay this actor. He plays quite the fool! The furrowed brow is especially convincing!" Chrom raised a hand signaling Fredrick to withhold his accusations. "This land is known as the Halidom of Ylisse. Our ruler, Emmeryn, is called the Exalt. I suppose proper introductions are in order... My name is Chrom—but then, you already knew that. The delicate one here is my little sister, Lissa." Lissa fumed in anger. "I am not delicate! …Hmph! Ignore my brother, please. He can be a bit thick sometimes. But you're lucky the Shepherds found you. Brigands would've been a rude awakening!" The amnesiac was flooded with images in his head of Fredrick riding upon his noble steed and herding sheep like a commoner. Struggling not to laugh at the thought, he asked, "Shepherds? You tend sheep? ...In full armor?" Chrom, now grinning answers, "Heh, it's a dangerous job. Just ask Frederick the Wary here." Fredrick puffed his chest trying to seem as noble as possible. "A title I shall wear with pride. Gods forbid one of us keeps an appropriate level of caution. I have every wish to trust you, stranger, but my station mandates otherwise." The newcomer nodded in response. "I understand, sir. I would do no less myself. My name is Robin. …I just remembered that. How odd. I suppose that's one mystery solved." Chrom gave an intuitive look towards Robin. "Robin? Is… Is that foreign? …Ah, well. We can discuss it later. We're almost to town. Once we-." The blue haired man was interrupted by a gasp and Lissa pointing towards flames.

"Damn it! The town is ablaze! Those blasted brigands, no doubt… Fredrick, Lissa Quickly!" Chrom yelled. "What about him?" Fredrick interjected while pointing towards Robin. "Unless he's on fire as well, it can wait!" he replied impatiently. "Aptly put milord." "Let's go already!" Lissa begged. The trio began to go into a full sprint (all except Fredrick, for he had an Ylissian bred noble steed) leaving Robin in the dust. "What about me?" Robin yelled after them. Not receiving an answer he took this as a sign to take the initiative and follow.

Arriving at the town he saw Chrom, Lissa and Fredrick had already got into the heat of things fending off waves of brigands. Quite ineffectively to boot, nevertheless Robin patted himself down to find something to aid the defensive with. He groped what seemed cold to the touch. He unsheathed a sharpened bronze sword. He rushed to the market stalls where the Shepherds were making their stand and immediately swung his sword onto a surprised Barbarian, ripping the unhonorable man's back wide. Chrom turned and saw his once previous captive now fighting with the Shepherds. "Nice to see you join us, thought you would've fled when we forgot you." Robin chuckled while narrowly dodging a searing blast of energy annihilating a small fruit stand. Chrom noticed the mage and cleaved his skull while he had the chance. The lower area seemed clear of all invaders, but something still seemed to bother Robin. "Chrom we seem to be fighting rather inefficiently, can I make a suggestion to our strategy?" Chrom seemed rather offended but kept an open ear. "Well for starters, Lissa is focusing on healing Fredrick while you stand here with minimal armor and he's bundled up in a nice suit of steel. Perhaps Lissa could focus on healing you and me while Fredrick picks off stragglers. I have tomes in my pack, I could give ranged support. Our assault on the Brigand's position would be flawless. No deaths on our side, only bruises. "Chrom's eyes widened at the stranger's tactical prowess. "W-Well, um… I've never thought about it like that." Chrom stammered. "Well then, it's decided. We take my approach, we assault the Brigands before they have a chance to regroup." Robin declared emanating an aura of leadership and confidence. Fredrick hadn't wavered at all. "Why would I follow the orders of you whelp? I am a knight of Ylisse not a-". "Do it." Fredrick turned to Chrom with a look of surprise and humility on his face. "Yes Milord!" And with that the group rushed the bridge with Fredrick taking point with Chrom at his side.

The two unprepared axe wielders securing the bridge were overwhelmed by the charge ending their existence quickly. Remaining was a taller Brigand with a large row of burning buildings behind him. "So you must be the leader of this pathetic band of dead pilferers?" Chrom questioned. "Garrick's me name, and I'll have your hide for killing my men!" The leader drew his axe and charged Fredrick with an inaccurate strike leaving him open for attack. Both Robin and Chrom realized their chance which gave the marauder a skewered and charred corpse to remember him by.

Chrom stumbled towards the body and gave it a hardy kick. "Fredrick, go check on the townspeople. I'm gonna rest for a bit." He sheathed Falchion and collapsed on the stone ground in exhaustion. "MILORD!" Fredrick screeched as he ran to his Captain's side. "You alright Chrom? There're better places to take a nap than on the ground, you know." Joked Robin. "I don't think we could have pulled this off without your guidance Robin. You seem to be skilled in tactics, tomes too." he huffed while glancing at the yellow book. Chrom gave a groan and lifted himself off the ground with Fredrick's help. "You should come to Ylisse with us, the Shepherds need a skilled tactician like you." Robin pondered for a bit and slowly nodded. "Alright Chrom, you've got yourself a new Tactician, now let's tend to the people."


End file.
